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User profile for user: mjmar21
mjmar21 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Converting Videos Imported to iMovie in Apple Intermediate Codec

Hi All,


Awhile back I would use iMovie '08 & '11 to import & store videos from my iPhone & camcorder, and some of these videos were converted from the base codec to Apple Intermediate Codec on import (I am not sure exactly why). I now have all of these videos that were in my iMovie Events folder and they are unplayable in Quicktime (I guess newer versions of Quicktime dropped support for AIC?) and also are taking up a ton of space. I am hoping that someone knowledgable on video formats would be able to answer these questions:


  1. What would be the best tool to convert these back to H.264 codec & retain good quality?
  2. Would it be possible to retain the metadata like created date and gps coordinates in this conversion process?


Looking back it probably would have made sense for me to store the files coming out of the iPhone/camcorder separate from iMovie but unfortunately I only have these AIC files.


Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Posted on May 26, 2021 10:43 AM

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,730 points

Posted on May 26, 2021 11:51 AM

Hi, mjmar21,


I'm not that experienced with video formats from a tech standpoint.


AIC takes up a lot of space because it is a very uncompressed format that works with independent frames rather than frames that need to refer to other frames in order to build the display. I don't have any AIC footage so can't test for myself, but I think that iMovie will still play and work with it. You would have to try it to see. If iMovie 10 supports it, you could simply export it out from iMovie 10 at any setting other than Best Quality (pro res). That would give you an Mp4/AAC file. I did not know that QuickTimePlayer would not play AIC.


Another way to convert AIC to a more compressed format, like Mp4/AAC, H.264, is to use the free download, Handbrake.

You can get Handbrake here:


https://handbrake.fr/


A simple way to do it is to open Handbrake and do a File/Open Source. Navigate to your video and choose it as the source from the resulting screen. Then do File/Start Encoding. Wait a couple of minutes for the conversion to complete. Then save and import the converted clip into iMovie.


As for retaining the created date and other metadata, I suspect that that would not be possible to preserve, since by converting you create a new and different file. The creation date will be the date of conversion.


You have indicated that space is a consideration. However, before you start converting your original footage you might consider working with duplicates so as to preserve your original in case something goes amiss with the conversion process.


-- Rich

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,730 points

May 26, 2021 11:51 AM in response to mjmar21

Hi, mjmar21,


I'm not that experienced with video formats from a tech standpoint.


AIC takes up a lot of space because it is a very uncompressed format that works with independent frames rather than frames that need to refer to other frames in order to build the display. I don't have any AIC footage so can't test for myself, but I think that iMovie will still play and work with it. You would have to try it to see. If iMovie 10 supports it, you could simply export it out from iMovie 10 at any setting other than Best Quality (pro res). That would give you an Mp4/AAC file. I did not know that QuickTimePlayer would not play AIC.


Another way to convert AIC to a more compressed format, like Mp4/AAC, H.264, is to use the free download, Handbrake.

You can get Handbrake here:


https://handbrake.fr/


A simple way to do it is to open Handbrake and do a File/Open Source. Navigate to your video and choose it as the source from the resulting screen. Then do File/Start Encoding. Wait a couple of minutes for the conversion to complete. Then save and import the converted clip into iMovie.


As for retaining the created date and other metadata, I suspect that that would not be possible to preserve, since by converting you create a new and different file. The creation date will be the date of conversion.


You have indicated that space is a consideration. However, before you start converting your original footage you might consider working with duplicates so as to preserve your original in case something goes amiss with the conversion process.


-- Rich

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Converting Videos Imported to iMovie in Apple Intermediate Codec

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